The first black international footballer, Andrew Watson, has been recognised with a place in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as part of its 10th anniversary update. Watson, whose full story only came to light last year when my research was published, captained Scotland to an astonishing 6-1 victory over England on his international debut in 1881. For many years his fate was unknown until I tracked down his death in London in 1921, and visited his gravestone. I was delighted to be asked by the ODNB to contribute his entry for the Dictionary. Andrew Watson was born in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1856 to Peter Miller Watson, a Scottish sugar planter and Hannah Rose, a local woman. Despite being black and illegitimate, he was generally accepted by his fellow footballers as he was a ‘gentleman' (he was of independent means after his father left him a substantial legacy), but there are hints that he required broad shoulders. While most descriptions were purely about his ability, there was some evidence of discrimination: ‘Both on and off the field he is courtesy and unostentation personified and although of a most powerful build he invariably plays a sterling honest game. … Although on more than one occasion subjected to vulgar insults by splenetic, ill-tempered players, he uniformly preserved that gentlemanly demeanour … he is the embodiment of rare geniality and kind-heartedness’ (Scottish Athletic Journal, 15 December 1885). Less controversially, the 1880 Scottish Football Annual described him as: ‘One of the very best backs we have; since joining Queen’s Park has made rapid strides to the front as a player; has great speed and tackles splendidly; powerful and sure kick; well worthy of a place in any representative team.’ In over a decade of top level football in Scotland and England he was a significant personality and helped to draw crowds and plaudits wherever he played. Capped three times by Scotland, all comprehensive victories, he missed out on further international honours by moving to England. Having first come to prominence with Glasgow team Parkgrove, he won the Scottish Cup four times with Queen's Park, and played for a range of teams in England including Swifts, Pilgrims, Corinthians and finally Bootle, having gone to Liverpool to pursue a career as a maritime engineer.

Watson (back, third from right) earned his first representative honour for Glasgow in 1880

Andrew Watson set a number of firsts for a black footballer:+ First player in Scottish Cup, reaching quarter finals in 1877/78 with Parkgrove;+ First to gain representative honours, playing for Glasgow v Sheffield in February 1880;+ First to win Scottish Cup, in 1880/81 with Queen’s Park;+ First internationalist, captaining Scotland v England, 12 March 1881;+ First administrator, as match secretary with Parkgrove 1878-80 and club secretary with Queen's Park 1881-82;+ First player in FA Cup, reaching 4th round in 1882-83 with Swifts;+ First match official, as umpire for Old Carthusians v Royal Engineers, FA Cup, 25 Jan 1883;+ First player for Corinthians, on their Easter Tour in March 1883+ First to play for an English county, Surrey v Notts in March 1884 (as a Swifts player);+ And possibly the first professional. In December 1887, Great Bridge Unity FC protested to the FA Cup committee against Watson and Hastings of Bootle for professionalism; however the case was dismissed (an investigation by the Lancashire FA also failed to find evidence).

In May 1893, Andrew Watson qualified as a first class engineer, allowing him to pursue a maritime career (Liverpool Echo)

The newest addition to my page of digitised books is the small volume of Football Reminiscences, written by Third Lanark's Frank Walker in about 1928. It is a fascinating tale that reveals a lot about playing conditions and attitudes in Scottish football between his senior debut in 1916 and his last match ten years later. It is a curious feature of Scottish sporting biography that very few footballers committed their story to print in the early days, and not until the 1950s was there any kind of vogue for publishers to attack the market: George Young's Captain of Scotland (1953) was the first hardback of the genre. Before then, just a few paperbacks were produced: James B Niven's Scottish Football Story (1906), Mattha Gemmell o' Clyde (1943), Jerry Dawson's Memoirs (1949) and A Lifetime of Soccer by referee Peter Craigmyle (1949) being the others that come to mind. There were ephemeral pamphlets such as those by Walter Arnott and Tommy Walker, while some footballers were interviewed about their lives for newspapers, but few of these stories are readily available. All of which makes Frank Walker's little booklet particularly valuable for the historian. Walker was a talented but not particularly famous footballer, with one international cap to his name, a defeat to Wales in 1922. That match was a bit of a farce, with two inches of snow on the ground at kick-off and snow continuing to fall through the game; yet players in those days seemed to accept challenging conditions without complaint: "It was very difficult to pass at all accurately, as the weight of the ball was continually changing. On one occasion the ball would be coated with snow, whereas on the next occasion you might receive it direct from a throw-in after the half-back had carefully removed all the snow. It was practically impossible, therefore, to judge correctly on the spur of the moment the exact weight necessary to transfer the ball the desired distance." Another anecdote told of the time he scored a hat-trick for Third Lanark against Aberdeen, and on returning to the pavilion at the end of the game the club chairman, a Colonel Wilson, presented him with 'a crisp treasury note wherewith to provide the necessary hat'. Frank Walker served in France in the Great War with the Royal Field Artillery, and was lucky to escape unscathed. He combined his football career with work in the civil service as an income tax inspector and died in Edinburgh in 1949, aged just 52. To read the book, and a range of other Scottish sporting works, go to the Digitised Books page.

The latest addition to my collection of digitised Scottish sports books is Football Described by Giants of the Game. Originally published in 1904 on poor quality paper, few copies have survived and even the National Library of Scotland's copy is missing. The book is unusual as it gives prominent footballers the opportunity to describe in detail their approach to their specialisms, at a time when there were 11 distinct positions on the field from goalkeeper to outside left, and players would stick to their allotted role. Here, they offer advice to young players but also talk about their own science. Here, for example, is goalkeeper Harry Rennie talking about narrowing the angle: "I think a goalkeeper should not be content to stand and catch cold in his goal, letting his opponents shoot at their own sweet will. He should try and inflict his will on them by leaving his goal (within easy reach) and thus inducing his opponents to throw away their chances by shooting from impossible distances." He writes of special bending, twisting, stretching and breathing exercises, and how to distribute the ball upfield. Welsh genius Billy Meredith talks of crossing the ball from the goalline, Jack Bell about the importance of teamwork, Dickie Boyle on good communication. It all adds up to the conclusion that footballers by the end of the Victorian era thought a great deal about tactics, practice and coaching. The chapter headings are: Goalkeeping: Harry Rennie (Hibernian)Right back: Walter Arnott (Queen’s Park)Full back: Dan Doyle (Celtic)Right half: Richard Boyle (Dundee)Centre half: James Kelly (Celtic)Left half: Jackie Robertson (Rangers)Outside right: Billy Meredith (Manchester City)Inside right: John Campbell (Third Lanark)Centre forward: Bob Hamilton (Rangers)Inside left: Alex McMahon (Celtic)Outside left: John Bell (Preston North End)

Dunblane FC with the Perthshire Cup in c1889, including WW1 casualty Robert Christie (back, second left)

In September 1914, Dunblane FC was due to play a Scottish Qualifying Cup tie against Tulloch but was unable to raise a team. The decision to scratch from the competition, and indeed to undertake no further matches that season, was reported in the local paper with a glow of pride: 'Well played Dunblane!' said the Perthshire Advertiser. 'No football will be played at Duckburn Park this season. Nearly all the players on the club's books, not forgetting the officials, have resolved to serve their King and country in the present emergency.' No-one could have foreseen was that this would be the end of the club known as 'The Heather', not just for the war, but for ever. At least a dozen former players lost their lives in the conflict and Dunblane, which had been one of the county's most successful clubs, would never play a match again. Since its formation in 1876 by local schoolboys, Dunblane had won the Perthshire Cup no less than 12 times; only St Johnstone had a better record. However, the club had declined in the professional era and there were dire forecasts in the summer of 1913: the annual meeting of the club showed a deficit of £16, and there were so few nominations for the committee that its future was said to be in doubt. The deficit was cleared by holding a cycle parade at Duckburn Park but it was a short term fix and it is quite possible that the club would not have lasted much longer in any case. The signing-up of the players and officials en masse took a heavy toll. In June 1915 it was reported that 'between thirty and forty past and present members of Dunblane FC are in service at present'. By 1918, the Stirling Observer wrote that a whole team had been lost, mostly with the Black Watch. Of those who were killed, the best known was Robert Main Christie, former Scotland internationalist and President of the SFA, killed in a mustard gas attack in 1918. Another well-known name was William Eadie, a goalkeeper who won the Perthshire Cup with Dunblane in 1906 and had also played for Queen's Park, St Mirren, Partick Thistle and East Fife. The others included the town postman, Peter Gardiner, and 38-year-old John Bayne who had served in the South African war and was a former player with Reading and St Johnstone. Here is a list of all those known to have been killed in action:Pte Alex McKay, Black Watch, killed 1 April 1915Sgt William Eadie, Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), killed 23 April 1915 Pte John Bayne, Black Watch, killed 21 July 1915Pte James McInroy DCM, Black Watch, killed 26 Sept 1915Sgt-Major Peter Gardiner, Black Watch, killed 30 July 1916 L/C William Crawford, Black Watch, killed 19 October 1916L/C David John McInroy, Royal Scots, killed 3 May 1917Pte Hugh Bruce, Black Watch, killed May 1917Pte Thomas Cullen, Black Watch, killed 26 September 1917Pte John Waller, Black Watch, killed 10 December 1917Pte John Strang MM, London Post Office Rifles Regt, killed 23 April 1918Major Robert Main Christie QM, Labour Corps, killed 15 May 1918.

After the war, there was no prospect of the original Dunblane FC getting back off the ground. However, the local juvenile club, Dunblane Rovers, stepped up to the junior leagues, and they too played at Duckburn Park. Probably the highlight of their short existence was a 4-0 victory in 1931 over a strong Rangers side, in a fund-raising friendly. However, Rovers also struggled to draw crowds and ironically they closed with the outbreak of the Second World War. While it is still my intention to write a full history of 'The Heather', and more information will surely follow, it is important to mark this, the 100th anniversary of the demise of Dunblane's football club and the sacrifice of its players.